ABSTRACT
Background: Female breast cancer has been ranked as the leading cause of cancer death in Taiwan. Women who undergo a mastectomy are at risk of suffering emotional disturbance because of deteriorating body image. A nursing intervention designed to restore body image perceptions and to reduce anxiety and emotional distress in this vulnerable group should be developed and administered.
Purpose: This study was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of informational and emotional consultation on body image, anxiety, and emotional distress in women with breast cancer who underwent modified radical mastectomy.
Methods: A quasi-experimental design with convenience sampling was used. Two hospitals within the same hospital system in southern Taiwan provided the research setting. Sixty-three women diagnosed with breast cancer completed the interviews (experimental group = 32, control group = 31). The experimental group participants received a two-session informational and emotional consultation, whereas those in the control group received routine nursing care only. All participants completed a series of three face-to-face interviews, including one pretest (Time 1, before surgery), a first posttest (Time 2, the day of discharge), and a second (follow-up) test (Time 3, 2 months after surgery).
Results: The intervention had an immediate positive effect (i.e., on the day of hospital discharge) on anxiety and a delayed positive effect (i.e., 2 months after surgery) on body image, anxiety, and emotional distress. The experimental group participants indicated a high level of satisfaction with the intervention.
Conclusions/Implications for Practice: Our findings suggest the ability of this nursing informational and emotional consultation intervention to reduce patient anxiety at both short- and long-term stages. However, improved perception of body image and emotional distress only over the longer term indicates that these dimensions take time to be internalized and improved. This nursing informational and emotional consultation intervention may provide a guide for hospitals and nurses in caring for women recovering from modified radical mastectomy surgery.